When we made the decision to move onto a sailboat, we knew that life would be drastically different. We knew we would have less storage space and I would have to learn to cook on a lot smaller scale. We knew that the ground beneath our feet would no longer be still and we’d have to get used to the natural motions of a vessel floating on water. There would be adjustments to pretty much all of our functions of daily life. And that was okay with us. We’d figure it out.

And we have. We’ve adjusted to life on the boat far better than I had anticipated. Our boat home sufficiently meets all of our needs and is as comfy and cozy as we could ask for. Obviously there are elements of life on the boat that are more difficult than life in a house, but overall, the freedom and sense of adventure of living on a boat far outweigh the inconveniences.

Here are a few examples of those inconveniences:

Showering at the marina

Emptying our waste holding tank

Using only 30 amps of power at a time and having to turn off one thing to turn on another

Crawling under the table to use the head when Jim is working

Washing dishes more often (we have fewer dishes on board due to limited space)

Trying to sleep in a wind storm

Trying to work in a wind storm

Buying potable water

And a few others we outlined in the video below:

And just to even things out a bit, here is a short list of thing we LOVE about living on the boat:

The ability to be out on an adventure at a moment’s notice

Living in a marina community

Being surrounded by water all the time

The charm of our boat

The simplicity of life

The ability to focus our time on a career we love instead of hustling to pay for a house

Not having room for a lot of stuff means we don’t collect stuff we don’t need

Hearing seagulls overhead when we wake up every morning

Being the envy of our friends and family 😉

Check back next week for our humorous contrast of life on land as we house sit for some friends for a week!

Last week, Jim was asked by our friend Aaron to help tow a 53′ sailboat from Eagle Harbor back to Poulsbo with his tug. It was supposed to be a simple tie up and tow, but the day had other plans in store and quickly turned into one big learning experience for Jim.

We bought Willow at the end of October. Between the arrival of the holidays and winter moving in, we haven’t had a whole lot of time to break her in. So a few weeks ago, when it looked like we were going to have a day of nicer weather, we decided to take her around Bainbridge Island.

The trip took us just over 6 hours, which was longer than it should have. We hit some seriously soupy fog heading out of Liberty Bay, so that portion of the journey took longer than normal. Safety first, right?

The rest of the day was beautiful, though, and we really enjoyed the trip. Well, all of us except Katie. She’s still trying to figure out how to enjoy sailing.

We are excited for our next trip. We’re not sure where we will go, maybe to Tacoma or maybe we will head north. All we know is we are itching to get out on the water. This winter weather is KILLING us!

If you’re a sailor, where will your next adventure take you?…even if you’re not! We love all kinds of adventures!

Sail On!

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